From AAAAI: Cold and wheezing in toddlers may lead to asthma

Infants and very young children who develop wheezing and other asthma-like symptoms when they have colds are at a higher risk of developing asthma by the age of 6, according to new research presented at the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology Conference in Philadephia.

Dr. D.J. Jackson and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, Madison found that "wheezing illnesses during the first three years of life caused by rhinovirus, the most common cause of "colds" in children and adults, were the strongest predictor of asthma at age 6 years."

The researchers said that children who wheezed with colds likely had different immune systems from children who did not wheeze.

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Wheezing with colds wasn't the only risk factor. Children a dog in the household when they were born, older siblings with asthma and airborne or food allergen sensitivity before age on also had increased risk of developing asthma by age 6.

Jackson's study was funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.

Joy Buchanan attended the AAAAI conference and saw Jackson's presentation during a press conference on March 15.